


A friend in need

by Gavi



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Light Angst, Mild Blood, POV Multiple, Pennymoore, SuperCorp, batmoore, kind of, more like me trying to make sense of canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26376394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gavi/pseuds/Gavi
Summary: Sophie doesn't know what to do in this situation. She was expecting something bad but not this. She could't be mad at Kate right now, there will be plenty of time for that later, at least she hoped so, right now she needed to take action.Kara finally had Lena back. With all the mess with Lex being dealt with, she wanted nothing more than mend her broken bonds with Lena. So when she had to go to Gotham to help out a friend in need, and Lena insisted on coming with her, how could she have said no?OrThe SuperBat crossover I want but never gonna get in canon.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Kate Kane/Sophie Moore, Sophie Moore/Julia Pennyworth
Comments: 16
Kudos: 158





	1. Chapter 1

Sophie never liked eavesdropping. If you want to know something, you should just ask. Yet unfortunately she had to eavesdrop a lot. Like the way she was doing it now. She was pretending to look through menus, while trying to catch what Julia was going on about with her mysterious contact.

She was clearly talking about Gotham’s newest vigilante. It’s been four days since the incidence with Batwoman at the stadium and no one has seen her since. Julia tried to get in contact with her but so far, she hadn’t been successful. Jacob Kane was taking credit for it, saying he finally got rid of the bat problem Gotham has. Sophie and Julia knew better. There was no way Jacob Kane would be the person who would make Batwoman back down and stop for good. This wasn’t the first time she had diapered of course, and Sophie just assumed she will resurface in next few days. Julia didn’t seem to share her confidence. She was constantly on her phone in past couple of days, going out of rooms and whispering furiously with someone. Fortunately, Sophie had a good ear.

“ _I know …. Yeah, I know but isn’t that good? …. If you don’t know how then …. I know what she can do but would she even come …. Okay…. I said okay_.” There was silence for a few moments before Julia walked back in the room and sat beside Sophie on her couch. She took the menus out of Sophie's hands which made her look up. “I know you’ve been eavesdropping love, if you want to know something just ask.” Julia said. _oh well._ Sophie sat up straight and considered her for a second. She looked exhausted, shoulder tense and fingernails tapping her phone. “Did something happen to Batwoman? Do you know something?”

Julia’s shoulders dropped and she sighed. Her lips parted but she didn’t say anything. “You know her, don’t you?” Sophie said, “You know who Batwoman really is.” She didn’t deny it. “You don’t have to tell me. But I wanna help. Whatever is going on, whatever you need, I wanna help however I can.” Sophie said. Julia had a ghost of a smile on her lips. She nodded slightly but still didn’t say anything. Sophie knew she didn’t want to keep secrets, she knew Julia wanted to talk, to share whatever was worrying her so much, to ask for help, but she couldn’t share secrets that weren’t hers to share. So Sophie decided to try another approach. “who were you talking about?” she asked. The blonde seemed relieved by that. “Supergirl” she said. That wasn’t what Sophie expected. “What? why?” she asked.

Julia shifted in her seat to face Sophie. “I know I’m not supposed to say anything but I could use your help on this.” She said. Sophie reached out and took her hand in hers. “Hey, you can trust me. I promise I won’t tell anyone, not even Kate.” She said. Julia chuckled humorlessly.

“My … associates found two bodies, one of them seem to belong to Bruce Wayne…” she began to but she was interrupted when Sophie said “wait what?”. “Listen” Julia said, “it seemed that way but it turns out it was Tommy Elliot wearing a skin face mask of Bruce Wayne and another one belonging to Jonathan Cartwright or more commonly known as Alice’s partner Mouse. Alice herself has been missing for past three days, and so has Kate.” Sophie tilted her head at that. “No. I’ve been texting with Kate” she said, “nothing special just checking up, asking if everything was okay you know. She fell off her bike and broke a couple of ribs. She’s crashing at Mary’s. She’s fine.” She added hastily. Even with everything Julia just told her and even though she knew neither her nor Julia were particularly the jealous type, that was mostly Kate, she felt the need to explain why she had been talking to her ex, their ex. It was ridiculous. She knew she had no reason to worry. Julia didn’t look mad at all. No, she looked guilty.

“Sophie” She said in a small voice, Sophie squeezed her hand and said, “Whatever it is, you can tell me.” She tried to make her voice sound reassuring but she wasn’t sure it worked. _What’s going on exactly?_ “You are going to be mad at me” Julia said, “and Luke and Mary. And Kate. Especially Kate. You have every right to be, but right now I need your help in finding Kate. Love You haven’t been talking to Kate you have been talking to Mary. We didn’t want you to worry.” She put her other hand on Sophie’s and held her gaze for a moment. Sophie’s heart was beating loudly. Alice. She had done something to Kate. Something bad. She tried to brace herself for what Julia would say next but there was no way she could have. She was expecting the worse but not this.

“Kate… she’s Batwoman.” Julia said. “what? No. I’ve seen them together.” Sophie said. Julia didn’t meet her eyes. “No love, you saw me. Kate asked me to dress up as Batwoman that day so that …” She trailed off.

She didn’t have to finish. Sophie knew, she had known for months. She had been right. The only reason she believed Kate wasn’t Batwoman was because she saw them together. She didn’t even consider the possibility that someone else was pretending to be Batwoman because she never though that Kate would go out of her way to deceive her like this. The moment Julia said it, everything fell into the right place. It was so ridiculously obvious that she was amazed she believed they were different people mere seconds ago. She opened her mouth and exhaled, she didn’t realize she had been clenching her teeth.

She snatched her hand back from Julia’s. “Who else know?” She asked without looking at her. “Luke, he knew from the beginning, Mary figured it out few weeks ago. Alice, I don’t know when she knew but it’s one of the things that makes her dangerous. And apparently Supergirl.” Julia said.

“What’s with Supergirl? Why were you talking about her?” Sophie said, she didn’t even try to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “Kate told Luke that if she ever disappeared or he thought her life was in danger and there was absolutely no other way then he should call Supergirl. Apparently, they are friends.” Julia said.

“And where are Luke and Mary?” Sophie asked. “… At Wayne tower” Julia replied with some hesitation. Sophie stood up and said, “we’re going there right now.” Julia got up as well, “Sophie” she Began. “Don’t” Sophie said sharply, “you want my help? I’m giving it to you but I’m going to be all in or not at all. I’m not going to let you hand this over to Supergirl. Luke thinks she would help? Great, so she can stay and help us find Kate. Now hurry up before she flies away.” With that she was almost halfway to the door.

Julia was right behind her. she caught her wrist before Sophie could go out of the apartment. “He hasn’t been able to contact Supergirl yet. You see there is a watch that Kate was supposed to have to contact Supergirl in case of emergency and Luke and Mary can’t seem to locate it. They are thinking we might have to go to National city. It’s better if we head to National city tomorrow.” Julia said.

“A watch?” Sophie asked. She didn’t wait for a reply, she pushed past Julia and went back into her apartment, into her bedroom and opened the drawer of her bedside table. “Kate came over the night Batwoman … she was ambushed at the stadium and gave me a watch. She said if she was ever in danger, I should take this to Mary to call for help. She also told me she fell off her bike so I was more worried about that and forgot about the watch.” She dug out a completely ordinary looking digital watch and showed it to Julia. “It makes more sense now.” She said as she examined it. She pressed her finger below he display and the watch clicked and opened. Under the dial there was button with Supergirl’s symbol on it. Sophie and Julia looked at each other.

“Now we can go.” Julia said, and they were on their way to Wayne tower to meet with Luke and Mary, to call Supergirl and to find Batwoman, to find Kate.

***

“Okay Nia keep me posted” Kara said and then hung up the phone and turned around. She and her friends were gathered at the tower waiting for an update on Brainy. J’onn and M’gann stopped taking and looked at her, she could also feel Lena’s eyes on her though none of them said anything. 

“how is he?” Alex asked. “He’s okay, Nia’s worried but he’s going to make it.” Kara told them. J’onn visibly relaxed at that. “Oh, thank god!” Alex said. Lena closed her eyes and sighed with relief. Alex pulled Kara into a hug. Kara relaxed into her sister’s arms. A huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. Lex was defeated, Gamma the goddess of technology killed him. They had captured the element benders and put them in the dome world for the moment. They need to be dealt with later but for now the world was safe. Brainy was alive and going to make it. she knew there would be some new enemy to fight soon enough but for now she could relax.

Alex’s phone buzzed and she checked the message. Kara could see It was from Kelly. Even before reading the message Alex smiled the moment she saw Kelly’s name on the screen without even realizing it. “Kelly says Andrea is in shock but she’s taking it well.” Alex told her. “That’s great.” Kara replied.

“We should celebrate” Alex said. “We should go to Al’s” M’gann said, “I’m going to stick around for a while, I want to see if I can get my old job back.” That was another relief. She saw how happy J’onn was since M’gann arrived and she was afraid he might decide to go back to Mars. “That’s great!” she exclaimed. She was ready to go and celebrate, past few days have been stressful and she had missed having Lena in the room with her. This would be good for both of them.

Lena was standing alone in a corner looking at something on her phone. Kara already knew what it was. She walked up to Lena and gently took the phone out of her hand and put it upside down on a table nearby so that **Lex Luthor’s evil plan** in big bold letters wouldn’t be visible anymore. She took both of Lena’s hands into hers. “Come on” she said softly, “we all deserve a bit of cheering up don’t you think?”. Lena didn’t meet her eye. “You go ahead” she said, “I’m not in the mood.” Kara had no intention of leaving Lena behind all by herself, not after everything that has happened in past few months. _I just got you back_. She let go of Lena’s hands and said “Okay” before she turned and walked toward Alex who was already at the door.

“What did she say? Isn’t she coming?” Alex asked. “No” Kara said, and I don’t blame her either. I don’t want to force her to come if she’s uncomfortable…” “But you don’t want to leave her behind either.” Alex said interrupting her. Kara didn’t even try to deny it. Alex held her arm and lead her outside the room and outside Lena’s line of vision.

“Kara” she said gently, “I know you want things to go back to normal but do you even have a normal with her?”

“You don’t have to worry about me Alex, I can handle this.” Kara said. Alex wasn’t convinced.

“All I’m saying is, you and Lena are not gonna go back to normal. You have to build your relationship from bottom up. It won’t be easy or quick.” Alex said.

Kara looked back through the wall and saw Lena, standing alone in the large room, her phone back in her hands. “I know” she said to Alex, “I know. I’ll be careful. She needs a friend right now, she needs me, she has needed me for some time now and I wasn’t there. You’re right it won’t be easy or quick so better start as soon as possible.” Kara wasn’t able to read the look on Alex’s face. “Okay” Alex said before she left.

Kara flew back to Lena’s side and took the phone out of her hands once again. “Are you going to make me hide it?” she asked. Lena opened her mouth but didn’t say anything. Kara turned off her phone and gave it back to her. Lena took it without looking because she was staring at Kara.

“I thought you were going to Al’s” she said. “No” Kara said, “I wanted to go to Al’s _with you_. I’m just as happy to stay here, or go back to my place or yours or anywhere really, as long as you would be there.”

“You don’t have to stay here because of me, I’ll be fine” Lena said.

“I know, you are always _fine_. I’m staying because I missed you. I’m staying because I want to stay with you.” Kara said. It wasn’t a lie. She stayed because Lena needed her yes, but also because working with Lena again made her realize just how much empty she had been. She felt like a piece of her was missing When she was at odds with Lena. She was afraid Lena would slip away from her, that they would never be able to mend their relationship, that she would lose her all over again.

“You know I’m selfish when it comes to you.” She said. Lena finally looked her in the eye. Kara leaned in, closed her eyes and touched her forehead to Lena’s and whispered, “I’m staying because I don’t think I can be without you right now.” She felt Lena move closer and press against her, she felt her hands on her back, and felt her head rest on her shoulder. Kara wrapped her own hands around Lena and exhaled. “Thank you” Lena said with a shaky voice, “I didn’t want you to leave.” She was crying. Kara gingerly freed herself from the hug and took Lena’s face in her hands. She was holding back tears but she was also smiling. Was she happy? Was she sad? Both? Kara didn’t understand what just happened.

Before she could say anything, Lena was pointing at something behind her. “That’s not supposed to glow red right?” she said. Kara took her hands-off Lena’s face and turned around to see Kate’s bat symbol glowing red. “what’s going on?” Lena asked. “Trouble, in Gotham” Kara said. “as in Batwoman?” Lena asked. Kara nodded.

“is she in some sort of danger?”

“Well she’s only supposed to use that in a case of emergency so she better be” Kara said.

She took off her glassed so that her super suit can materialize. “If you don’t want to go home, go to my apartment, I’ll meet you there later.” she told Lena.

“I’m coming with you.” Lena said.

“No” Kara said, “absolutely not. If Batwoman is contacting me then it must be dangerous. I don’t know how long it will take and I don’t want to rope superfriends into this.”

She turned around to leave but Lena caught her hand. “I know. So just take me with you. I know some people in Gotham, I can help, you know I can help.” Kara was going to tell her how dangerous it could be and that she might not be prepared to go out in public just yet.

Before she could do that however Lena said, “Didn’t you just say you can’t be without me right now?” Kara couldn’t argue with that. Lena was strong and smart. She could hold her own in most situations, and in the meantime if anything happened in National city, they had a brand-new hero to protect them.

“Aren’t you worried about people and media stalking you?” Kara knew the answer, and she knew Lena would still insist on coming. “I have an idea, can we stop by L Corp on the way to Gotham?” Lena said. she didn’t say Lex Corp, that was a good sign, right? “Alright. Just promise me you will avoid trouble” Kara said. Lena just smiled. She pressed her com and left a message for Alex. Then she swiftly picked up Lena in her arms and took off. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure how DNA works, so just roll with it.

Kara Landed on rooftop of Wayne tower. Four people were waiting for her, none of them Kate. The guy she recognized from another earth as Luke Fox, and three other women she didn’t recognize. She looked around for Kate, she had seen how Batwoman likes to make an entrance both in the news and first hand. She scanned the surrounding area with her x-ray vision and when she didn’t see Kate, she scanned the people she presumed were Kate’s friends. Two of them, the black woman wearing a suit and the blonde in the leather jacket were both carrying a handgun and the third Woman had a paper spray and a taser in her purse. She was the first one to speak.

“Supergirl, it’s so nice to meet you, big fan. I’m Mary Hamilton, I’m … an associate of Batwoman”

Mary Hamilton. That was Kate’s step sister right? She was in the news … for something before the crisis. Kara couldn’t remember what exactly. “Where’s Kate?” she asked. All four of them exchanged looks. The woman wearing the suit looked away.

“That’s what we are trying to find out, and we need your help.” Mary said. Kara crossed her arms in front of her. Kate was missing? What had happened? She was completely out of loop with everything that has happened with her friends in other cities. Even so, if something big had happened in Gotham, she would have heard about it.

“What happened to Kate?” she asked Luke. He looked startled that she was talking to him. “Kate said you were her only friend, so either she lied, which is not like her…” she began to explain. She saw the women in the suit roll her eyes at that. “or” she continued. “she made some new friends which is also unlikely.”

“oh” Mary said, “well I’m her sister... step sister, that’s Sophie Moore her ex and that’s Julia Pennyworth … also her ex.” Ah, that made more sense.

She was still waiting for an explanation but all of them were looking at each other like they didn’t knew how to proceed. The blonde, Julia was the one who stepped forward and offered an explanation. she spoke with a British accent. Luke and Mary filled in little details here and there. Sophie just stood there with her arms crossed and one foot tapping on the floor.

As it turns out Kara wasn’t aware of a lot of things. After they were done Mary asked, “will you help us?”

“of course, I will” Kara said. there was always the possibility that they were lying, but Kara didn’t think so. Kate considered Luke her friend, an honor not many people had, Mary was her sister, and she was in love with Sophie. These people were Kate’s family.

Kara pressed at her temple where her glassed would have been. They materialized there the next moment as her suit began to disappear. She heard Luke and Mary mumble wow in unison.

“Sophie” she said, “Your apartment is not far from where they found the bodies underground right?” she asked. “Yeah… yeah I think so” Sophie spoke for the first time. “I think I should take a look at that place myself. I’ll have a friend meet us there.” she said as she took out the phone and texted Lena the address. Sophie nodded.

“I’m coming with you too” Mary said.

“Mary” Luke said, “You don’t have to, and you need to stay at your apartment to cover for Kate in case your dad came looking for her.” Mary did not look happy about that. “I know but I’m tired of sitting there and doing nothing. I have to do something.” She said.

Kara understood that feeling. She wouldn’t be able to sit still and do nothing if Alex went missing. “You should come with us. You are her sister, right? You might notice something I wouldn’t” She said. Mary gave a look to Luke that said _take that_.

“Have I seen you somewhere?” she asked Kara.

“Maybe,” Kara said, “My name is Kara Danvers. My day job is being a reporter at Catco.” Something flashed across Mary’s face. She opened her mouth to say something, but then she pressed her lips together and leaned back on her heels. “let’s go then.” She said finally.

***

Lena was already at the entrance to the sewers when Kara reached there with Sophie and Mary. She was wearing a standard DEO uniform, with her hair tied in a braid. Before coming to Gotham, they had made a stop at Lena’s lab to pick up a few things. Lena had the sense of changing into something more suitable for a rescue mission.

“Is that Lena Luthor?” Mary asked. “Yes” Kara replied, “she’s my … partner and she’s here to help”. Kara was ready to defend Lena if either of them said she shouldn’t be trusted since she was Lex Luthor’s sister. To her relief they didn’t.

Lena was looking over her shoulder to make sure no one saw her. when she saw Kara and Kate’s team approach her expression softened. “hey” she said.

“Hey, this Mary Hamilton and Sophie Moore. They are friends of Batwoman, she’s missing and we are going to help them find her.” Kara said. Lena simply nodded.

The four of them went inside, Sophie a couple paces behind them. Kara slowed down to match her pace.

“Batwoman told me about you” She said. “Really? She didn’t say anything about you”. The bitterness in her voice stung her. It reminded her of the anger in Lena’s voice on that fateful day in the fortress of solitude. “I know that … you two were ... close. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to find her,” she said. Sophie didn’t say anything.

She wanted say she knows that Sophie loves Kate, but she couldn’t say that in front of Lena. She had considered telling Lena, after everything that had happened, she didn’t want any secrets between them, but Batwoman’s secret identity wasn’t her secret to share. Lena told her it was fine, that she could work on need to know basis. Kara was still feeling uneasy about it.

“Stop, it’s right here” Sophie said. There was no body. Sophie had reported both incidence to the crows, Kara assumed they took care of it, though suspiciously quickly. There was no police tape, no real sign of anyone had been there except the residual sent. She knew it would be difficult, but still. From the pictures Julia has provided them, this was the place where Mouse was murdered by Alice.

What little she knew about Alice was directly from what Kate had told her, which was concerning. She was a reporter, and granted she had other things going on in her life in past few months, but even so, how could she have not heard anything about Alice? Are Crows somehow preventing these kinds of things getting outside of Gotham? That would explain a lot, like why the bodies disappeared so quickly.

“Let’s look around” Sophie said. They found a lot, and nothing at the same time. Lena detected traces of human blood, and poison deadly to humans, on the small device she was carrying. It was an advance version of alien detector she had made years ago. What they found lined up with the information Julia had provided them, but they didn’t find anything that would help them in finding Kate.

“Why did you think she did it? Killed her brother,” Mary asked to no one in general. Lena looked at Kara with one eyebrow raised. Kara only shook her head. “We can worry about that later, if there’s nothing here, we need to move on.” Sophie said. She started walking to the next spot, without waiting for anyone else. Kara, Lena and Mary were right behind her. By that point it was clear to Kara that Sophie didn’t want anyone near her.

The next crime scene wasn’t far away either, but it was a definitely messier. There were spots of dried blood on the wall, and some on the floor, they didn’t need Lena’s device to detect that much. Lena scanned it anyways.

“Look at this” she said to all three of them.

“What are we looking at?” Mary asked.

“It’s more than one person’s blood. Three at least. There was also blood all over this floor that has been cleaned up.” Lena said with a hint of worry in her voice.

“Not Batwoman’s though right?” Kara asked. “No, it probably Tommy Eliot’s. Alice slit his throat.” Sophie said. Kara could see the crack in her composure. “So the other two would probably belong to Alice and … Ka… Batwoman” Mary said. “But we can’t know that for sure” Sophie said.

“Actually, we can” Lena said, “this device can identify human DNA, not all of it but if you guys have Alice or Batwoman’s DNA, then we can compare them to see if it’s actually theirs”.

“The Crows have Alice’s DNA records but it would be hard for me to get my hands on it” Sophie said. “No worries” Mary said, “we have Batwoman’s DNA, that’s all we need right now.”

“It will take a few moments to scan it properly considering...” Lena gestured at the wall. Kara nodded. “let me know when you are done” Sophie said. they all gave Lena a little room to work. Sophie was stranding a little bit away from the group, her arms crossed and her back to the wall.

“First time Gotham?” Mary asked Kara.

“No actually” Kara said, “I’ve been here a few times before.”

“You’ve also worked with Batwoman before, haven’t you? You are her friend?” Mary asked.

It sounded like an accusation but Kara didn’t understand why. “I have.” She said. This whole time, just like Sophie Mary had managed to keep her composure. At that moment however, she sounded angry.

“I think we have enough” Lena said.

“Good. Now let’s get out of here” Sophie said and again started walking without waiting for anyone. Mary followed her, a little too fast.

“What’s going on?” Lena asked, “I mean beyond them being worried about their missing friend”.

“I wish I knew” Kara said. They started making their way out.

“This isn’t your first time in Gotham either right?” Kara asked.

“No” Lena said, “I’m liking it better than National City to tell you the truth.” That was surprising. “When I was waiting for you in the in that club … don’t worry no one recognized me… I went through the local news her, and no one is talking about… Lex, or obsidian. It was mostly about Batwoman and crimes in Gotham” Lena explained. That must feel nice. “This city isn’t as bad as it seems. In fact, Kate Kane reached out to me a few months ago, she was looking for investors for her affordable housing project.” She continued further.

Kara stopped in her tracks. “You know Kate Kane?” she asked. “I do. she’s a really nice person, she’s actually my contact in Gotham I told you about” Lena said. “She is?” Kara asked. “Yeah. I think she can help us” Lena said. “No Lena, she can’t help us, because we are here to help her.” Kara said.

Kara should have felt bad about telling Lena Kate’s secret, but she didn’t. If she absolutely had to, she could have kept quiet or gave her some other reason why Kate Kane can’t help them. But not telling Lena is one thing, and going out of her way to hide something is something else. Kara had made that mistake and almost lost Lena over it; she was never going to do that again.

“oh” was all hat Lena said. Mary and Sophie were far ahead of them so they quickened their pace to catch up. Looking at them, being in Gotham after so long, Kara couldn’t shake off the feeling that she wasn’t aware of something. Based on the anxious expression on Lena’s face, she was feeling it too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure how DNA works, so just roll with it.

The Batcave was in Wayne tower. Why wasn’t she surprised. This was Kate’s base of operations after all. Sophie was however surprised by how high tech it was. How many times she had been here, being completely unaware about this place?

She watched Mary work with Lena Luthor like they have done known each other for years. Supergirl, has turned out to be just reporter in glasses and ponytail, wearing a plaid shirt. She was standing in a corner, staring at Lena in mild amazement. So the rumors that Supergirl and Lena Luthor were that kind of partners were true after all. Luke was watching them work too, offering his help to Mary whenever she needed it without her having to ask.

Julia was attempting to show the Batcave to her but Sophie wasn’t really paying attention. She was getting impatient. It was taking longer than she had thought. She was trying her best to ignore the worst-case scenarios, but her mind kept going to them.

“Hey guys…” Mary said. Everyone gathered around the screen almost immediately. “two out of the three DNA samples we found partially match to Kate’s” Lena said. “Which makes sense” Mary added, “since Kate and Alice are biologically related.”

“So now we have conformation that Alice hurt Kate” Sophie said. “or it could be the other way around” Julia said placing a hand on Sophie’s shoulder. Sophie didn’t react to the touch, she didn’t relax, she wasn’t reassured but she didn’t shrug it away either. Whether she would like to admit it or not, she was grateful that Julia was by her side right now. 

“One of the samples was a seventy-tree percent match to Kate’s DNA, the other smaller sample we found was only sixty two percent.” Lena said.

“Which most likely means” Luck added, “that Kate and Alice got into a fight and Kate took worst of it”.

Julia squeezed Sophie’s shoulder who was clenching her fist. “We have to go find her right now.” She said.

“I have some locations where they might be” Luck said. He typed something and a list of places popped up on screen.

“What are we waiting for, let’s go” Sophie said.

She was ready to leave but Julia grabbed her hand. “Hold on love, we can’t just go running head first into danger. We will make a plan, and get some food in you before we go do that”.

Nope, Sophie takes it back, Julia was no help in this situation. How could she even suggest that?

“That’s actually a good idea” Mary said, “I mean we don’t know what Alice is up to. If we go in blind, we wouldn’t be much help to her”.

This is ridiculous. “That’s why we have her don’t we?” Sophie pointed at Supergirl… Kara.

“I should have mentioned this sooner” Luke said, “there is a small chance Alice might have Kryptonite.”

Lena looked up that. “how?” she asked, “and why?” she added.

“Didn’t Kate tell you about this?” Mary asked Kara.

“No” Kara said, “This is the first time I’m hearing about it.”

What were they talking about? Why were they wasting time when Kate life’s was in danger?

“Kara” Lena said in a concerned voice, “the kryptonite shield was damaged and I haven’t had a chance to fix it”.

Before the conversation goes further off topic Sophie said, “Enough! Do you all understand the seriousness of the situation? You want a plan Julia? I say we should split up and go to each of these places”.

“Sophie… “Julia began but she was interrupted by the other blonde in the room. “Why don’t you guys stay here, and I’ll fly to all these places and a scan”. Lena was about to say something, Supergirl put her hand on the brunette’s, it didn’t look like either of them were aware of it, and said, “don’t worry, if I find either one of them, I’ll come straight here or ask for backup”. Lena smiled but she didn’t look reassured.

“Don’t worry we are going to find her” Supergirl said to everyone, and then she was gone. Only Lena didn’t look surprised by that, who was somehow holding Supergirl’s glasses.

***

Lena was impressed by Batcave. It was no DEO but it was impressive none the less. However, the emergency supplies at Batcave at the moment were currently consisted of pure junk food. No wonder Kate Kane was a friend of Kara.

So much had happened in Gotham since she had last visited. She was on her way back to National City after visiting Lillian, where she had gotten a call from Kate’s assistant, Luke. On earth prime everything she had worked for in past three years was erased. All the good she tried to, all the hard work she had put into salvaging the Luthor Name, was for nothing. That was probably why she had agreed so quickly to invest in Kate’s project. She had done her own little research on Kate Kane, and saw a lot of potential. In all this time since then she had no idea about Alice. She had other things on her mind, but even so, she should have heard something. Gotham really does keep things to themselves.

She was trying to pay attention to what Luke was saying, but she couldn’t help but overhear a conversation going on few feet away. Sophie had mumbled something about Kara. Earlier she had thought Mary and Sophie both had some problem with Kara, but she didn’t understand why.

“You don’t trust her either, do you?”, Mary asked.

“No, not really” Sophie replied. Well it is natural to not trust strangers, even so the tone they spoke in didn’t sit right with Lena.

“Why don’t you trust her?” Julia asked Mary.

“Well” Mary began, “she is Pulitzer prize winning journalist who wrote articles about Aliens and Alien amnesty and all that, she did interviews with Dreamer and Lena Luthor and she even wrote that piece on Batwoman coming out. I use to think she was super impressive. But she’s not. She’s just writing about her herself, her friends and her girlfriend.” Mary took a breath as if to compose herself.

Girlfriend? What girlfriend? Lena realized Sophie was looking at her. She didn’t pretend she wasn’t eavesdropping. They weren’t exactly talking quietly in any case. 

“It’s not that big of a deal though is it?” Julia asked. “It is” Mary said, “There was… this other Alice… Beth…” Sophie gave her a confused look. “it’s a long story” Mary told her. “Anyways” she continued, “she was dying and we needed to get her out of the city, and you know, with Crows grading the border we couldn’t do it. Kate called her for help, but she didn’t come. That Beth died because of it” Mary took a shaky deep breath.

“And it’s not like that was the only time. When you guys had to evacuate those buildings before that bomb blew up, I was in danger along with my patients, Kate said she tried calling Supergirl then too but she didn’t show. And I know that Kate did call her about Kryptonite. There were so many times she could have come and helped us, but she jus didn’t. So why is she here now? Because she can write a story about it and get famous?” Mary was breathless.

Lena didn’t realize that Luke had stopped talking. He went to Mary’s side. He raised his hand as if to put on her shoulder but then seem to reconsider it. “You are being unfair” Lena said, “Kara had her own problems to deal with. She can’t just drop everything and come to Gotham.”

This wasn’t the first time someone has doubted Kara like this. Even before she knew who Supergirl really was she had her fair share of arguments like these. There is just so much Supergirl could do.

“What problems? National City has been disaster free for months” Mary said.

Lena Just gaped at her. “You are not serious, are you?” Lena asked, “She stopped obsidian from taking over the collective consciousness and she took down my brother, I helped her do it”. It was Lena who was furious now.

All three of Kate’s team members just stared at her.

“What’s obsidian?” Luke asked.

“It’s a VR thing that was really popular in England, but fortunately I haven’t seen a single person in here with that thing in their eyes.” Julia told him.

“I’ve never heard of it” Mary said.

Gotham might keep things to themselves but something wasn’t right.

Before Lena could say anything, else Kara’s name flashed on her phone. She immediately picked it up. “Is everyone with you?” Kara asked. “Yeah we are all her” Lena told her. “Good. I’ve found them. I’m sending you the location” she said. The location was in middle of a park. “I know where that is.” Mary and Sophie said in unison.


	4. Chapter 4

“What the hell do you want?” Kate demanded.

Alice didn’t say anything, just smiled. She was wearing a white knee length dress, with a black vail. Her white gloves were stained red and still wet. Kate looked pas her and saw a man in a suit lying on the dirty ground. Mouse?

Kate pushed past her and knelt in front of the body. “Why?” she asked. Nothing.

The body was clean, it was clear that he had been dead for a while now. So why were her gloves red? Kate looked up and saw something muddy red and dismantled up ahead. Not something, someone.

“Alice what the hell did you do?” she got up with a little effort and hurried toward the other person. Hoping they were still alive. As soon as she saw his face, she stopped in her track. No, no she wouldn’t. _why not?_

Who was she kidding? Alice killed her brother, wants to kill her sister so why wouldn’t she?

She wanted to call Sophie, or Luke or Mary. She wanted one them to be here, or rather she wanted to be with them. She didn’t have her phone with her but she had a burner. Luke’s idea. Instead of calling any of her friends, she called her dad. No matter what was going on between them, he needs to know this had happened. It had taken her a few seconds to process what was in front of her, so she didn’t realize that Alice was standing right behind her when she pressed call.

***

Sophie paid little attention to how she parked. Supergirl was standing a few feet in front of her. She and Mary climbed off the bike and went towards her immediately. Sophie took out her gun.

_She’s okay. I’m going to see her in a minute and she’s going to be alive._

“Where’s Lena and the other’s” Supergirl asked.

“Lena and Julia should be right behind us; Luke is staying behind trying to keep an eye on the Crow’s movements” Sophie said. Supergirl looked in the direction they came form for a second and them nodded.

“Two people are inside; both are injured and I also sense Kryptonite… it’s one of the few things I’m vulnerable to” Supergirl explained.

“Are we waiting for those two to arrive or…” Mary began to ask.

“We go in” Sophie said. Supergirl nodded.

As they got closer to the worn-down ice-cream shop Sophie could see blood shining on the ground. She did her best to avoid stepping on it as she approached the shop. The door was open and had dried blood on it. Sophie thought something was off about it but she didn’t give it much thought right then. She can worry about that after she found Kate.

As she entered the small room, she saw someone lying on the floor. She rushed towards them and knelt beside them. At the same time, she saw movement from the corner of her eye and raised her gun in that direction.

“Don’t move Alice” She shouted.

“Sophie?” she heard someone say. No wait. Kate. That was Kate’s voice. But it didn’t come from the person lying beside her. Supergirl put her hand on the gun and slowly lowered it.

“That’s not Alice” She said. It took a couple of seconds for her vision to adjust. When it did, she saw Kate, Leaning against a wall on the other side.

Sophie got to her feet and started towards Kate. Their eyes met, or at least so she thought. Almost immediately Kate closed her eyes and slumped down. Sophie caught her before she hit the ground.

She heard Supergirl say something but she wasn’t talking to Sophie so she ignored it and focused only on Kate. She had a stab wound on her shoulder and she was still bleeding from her stomach.

“Sophie” she said again.

“I’m right here” Sophie said. Kate didn’t respond. She took Kate’s hand in hers. It felt so cold, which wasn’t good. “Kate I’m right here, stay with me” she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

“Let me see” she heard Mary say over her shoulder. Sophie gave her room to examine Kate, but didn’t let go of her hand.

“She’ll be fine if we take her to a hospital right now… but…” Mary said. Taking Kate to a hospital would bring up a lot of questions. Questions they weren’t prepared to answer.

“It’s okay come in” Supergirl said. Julia and Lena both came in.

“Is Kate…” Julia began to ask.

“Kate’s alive but she needs medical attention, Alice is most likely dead.” Supergirl filled them in.

“She is” Sophie heard Lena say after a few seconds.

“Hey” Supergirl said, who was suddenly kneeling right beside Sophie. “I can take her to my base, my sister can help her there”.

Sophie knew the options they have are limited. She squeezed Kate’s had and nodded.

Supergirl turned to face Lena and said, “call Alex, have John bring her to the tower right away”.

Sophie slowly let go of Kate’s hand. Supergirl quickly yet gently picked up Kate. She walked outside; Sophie was right behind her. She was just about to take off when Lena said, “Hold on. I can’t reach Alex”.

Supergirl turned around and said, “then try Kelly or J’onn”. Lena did. Nothing.

“Hold her” Supergirl said to Sophie and with the same gentleness as before put Kate in her arms. She pressed behind her ear as if she was wearing a com.

Sophie looked a Kate face. Now outside she could see her bleeding lip and the bruises on it. She opened her eyes just for a moment and closed them again. Stay with me, Sophie though.

She looked up and saw Supergirl and Lena staring at each other, Supergirl visibly worried. “Guys we are wasting time” Mary was saying.

“Mary, is your underground clinic still open?” Sophie asked. It wasn’t the best idea, but they needed to move, they needed to do something.

“Y… Yeah” Mary said.

“Then let’s move!” Sophie ordered.

***

Kate was having the same dream as earlier. Sophie was here. She found her. Mary was with her too.

“I’m right here. Kate I’m right here, stay with me” Sophie said. She felt her hand in hers. Sophie’s touch felt so real she wanted to believe this was actually happening. But there was no way. Sophie couldn’t possibly have found her. was she even aware that Kate was missing?

She had made one dumb decision after another.

She knew responding to Alice’s message was a bad idea. She knew it would be dangerous. But she did it anyways. The night before going to meet Alice she had gone to Sophie’s and gave her Supergirl’s emergency watch. When all of this was over, she was going to tell her the truth. She knew after everything that had happened, after everything that she had done, gaining Sophie’s trust again would be hard. So, this was supposed to be the first step in that.

She wasn’t wearing her Batsuit. She didn’t take her phone with her, she didn’t tell anyone where she was going. At the moment it all made sense to her. Alice was her sister and she had to face her on her own, as Kate, without dragging anyone else into this, more than she already has.

When she had woken up on the floor of the swerves, with blurry vision and in pain, and with Alice nowhere in sight, only then she had realized how stupid all of that had been.

They were outside now. Someone was holding her. Who was that Julia? Kara? She tried to focus and saw Sophie. Of course it was Sophie. After all it was her dream so who else could it have been?

“Then let’s move!” Kate heard her say. Then they were flying, really fast. And then they suddenly stopped. And then she was all alone.

Why was she alone? Shouldn’t Alice be here? Where could she have gone?

Then Mary was there. “Hold on Kate” she said. This was new. Her dream had been different last time. She was supposed to be just fine and walk out with Sophie. What was happening? Where was Sophie?

“I’m right here Kate stay with me!” She heard Sophie say. Sophie was here. So why was she still in pain? Why did Sophie and Mary look so worried. And why was Kara here? 

There was no way her friends had actually found her after every stupid mistake she had made in past two days. But it was starting to feel like less and less like a dream.

“Hold on we are almost done” Mary said.

“You are going to be fine Kate” Sophie said.

I’m going to fine, was the last thing Kate thought before she passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

“So where are you now?” Alex asked.

“Just outside of Gotham.” Kara replied.

“Okay, you two should come over at my place for breakfast then” Alex said.

“No, we’re not on our way back, I’m actually gonna stay till Kate wakes up. I just couldn’t call you from Gotham, and I might know why. Well I have a theory at least” Kara said.

“So…” Alex said, the shift in her tone did not go unnoticed, “How are things with Lena?”

“We didn’t have much chance to talk you know. I missed this, working with her, watching her work” Kara said. “Umm-hmm” was the only reply from the other side.

“I know things are not gonna go back to how they use to be, whatever Lena and I had is going to change” she said.

“And…?” Alex prompted.

“And I’m looking forward to it” Kara said.

When Kara headed back into Gotham the sun was just beginning to rise.

***

The first thing Kate noticed when she woke up was the pain in shoulder. It had dulled, but it still hurt when she moved. The second thing she noticed was Sophie’s hand in hers.

Sophie was asleep in chair next to her, her head resting on the bed, her hair was down and covering her face. But they weren’t in a hospital. She looked around and realized they were in Mary’s underground clinic.

She was trying to sit up and was met with dull yet throbbing pain in her stomach. She moved her other hand there and felt bandages. She realized the wound on her shoulder was also cleaned and bandaged. “Kate?” she heard Sophie say.

“Hey” Kate managed to crock out. Before she could ask what happened the events of last few days started coming back to her in bits and pieces.

“How are you feeling?” Sophie asked. Her voice was full of concern.

_Sophie was here. What does that mean? How much does she know? Does she know anything at all?_

“I’ve been better, but I’ve been worse too” Kate said. Sophie sighed in relief. She took her hand out of Kate’s.

“Good,” she said as she got up, “I’ll go tell the others”. With that she turned around and walked away just a little too fast.

Kate wanted to say something. Ask her to stay. Ask her how she found her, but Sophie was gone before she could say anything. A few seconds later Luke, Mary and Julia all came into the room. Sophie wasn’t with them.

Kate felt a rush of panic.

“You idiot!” Luke said, “what in the hell were you thinking? No coms, no Batsuit, no way of contacting you, or your friend from National City. Are you insane?”

_Yes_. She thought.

“What he means to say is,” Mary said nudging him in the ribs, “We are so glad you’re alive”.

“Yeah that too” He said sheepishly.

“Here” Julia said as she helped her sit up. Mary checked something on the monitor and them adjusted the IV a bit.

“Kate” Julia said, “I told Sophie everything, I had to. You were missing and there are very few people I trust. I’m sorry”. Julia had never put her emotions on display. She could stay calm in most of the situations but Kate could tell she was feeling awful. It seeped into her voice.

“It’s okay, don’t worry I’m not mad. I was planning on telling her in any case” Kate said.

Julia sat in the same chair Sophie was sitting in just a minute ago. “That’s not what I’m worried about” Julia said, “I care about her Kate. I had to tell her I lied to her, I kept things from her. She was mad at both of us, but she put that aside because she was worried about you”. This time Julia wasn’t so successful in hiding her emotions.

“You know the worst part of it all?” She asked. Kate only stared at her. “Whatever we had; I don’t think it will continue. I saw how worried she was. Finding you and making sure you are safe was the only thing on her mind” Julia said.

“If you think she’s going to leave you for me then don’t worry. I don’t think she’s going to forgive me.” Kate said. She hated to admit it but it was the truth. She had no chance with Sophie, not anymore.

“You’re wrong” Julia said, “About both things. First, if you haven’t realized how much she loves you then you are a bigger idiot than I thought. And second, I’m going to end things with her, because even though I know she likes me, her heart has always been with you”

Kate was once again at a complete loss for words. She couldn’t imagine what Julia said could be true, yet she desperately hoped it was.

“You guys have a wired relationship” Luke said which earned him another elbow in the ribs from Mary.

***

Lena found nothing about Lex or Obsidian. Kara had asked her to look up Lex. Lena was surprised by that, but Kara seemed confident that she wasn’t going to find anything. She also found Nothing about Supergirl and all the other heroes from National city. As a matter of fact, she found very little outside of Gotham.

“Where’s your girlfriend?” She heard someone ask. She turned around and saw Sophie standing in the doorway. She was sitting in an almost empty room next to Mary’s underground clinic.

“Do you mean Kara?” Lena asked.

“Yeah” Sophie said. She absentmindedly took a seat next to Lena on the sorry excuse of a cot.

“Kara and I aren’t dating” Lena said.

“Really? Why not?” Sophie asked.

Why not? That was an interesting question. It wasn’t like she hadn’t considered it before. Meeting Kara was a huge turning point in her life. She hadn’t had the best of luck when it came to romance and even worse when it came to friends. When the world hated her Kara was the only one who had stood by her.

Why not? Because she was afraid. She was afraid of losing Kara. What if something went wrong? What if it didn’t work out? What if she was reading too much into their relationship and Kara didn’t like her like that? what if something went terribly wrong and she lost her for good?

Why not? Because Lena had almost lost her. She knows how it feels like to not have Kara by her side, to have Kara see her as the enemy.

She was fine until now, at least for the most part. But then Sophie Moore just had to refer to her as Kara’s girlfriend.

It was well past three in the morning by the time Kate was stable. She hadn’t had much sleep and she hadn’t been able to get that thought out of her since last night.

“so?” Sophie said. “Where is she?”

“She went to call her sister. We don’t seem to have any contact with National city since we came to Gotham. So she said she’ll go outside of Gotham to try” Lena said.

Sophie nodded but she didn’t look convinced.

“You are wrong about her. You and Mary both. She’s not doing this because she’s chasing fame. She cares about her friends. She’ll do anything from them” Lena said.

“Maybe, but you are her partner. You will take her side no matter what” Sophie said.

“Kara and had our fair share of disagreements. There was time when I couldn’t trust her, when I couldn’t believe a word she said, when I thought our entire relationship was a lie. Even then I knew she would do everything in her power to protect me” Lena said.

“why?” Sophie asked without looking at her. She was staring at her feet.

“Hu?” Lena said.

“Why couldn’t you trust her?” Sophie said.

“Because Kara kept something huge from me. She lied to about who she was” Lena said.

Sophie got up and ran her hand through her hair. “So why are you here now? Why are you helping her? How can you trust her again?” she asked. She started pacing the room.

“It’s a long story. I was angry for a long time. But the anger faded eventually. She did tell me, but only after I had already found out about it. She apologies, I took me a while to believe that. I guess my anger faded with time” Lena said.

“So time? Is that it?” Sophie asked, “am I going to feel this way until one day I wouldn’t?”

Lena at last realized what was going on with Sophie.

“Maybe” she said as she got up, “or you could just talk to her”.

“Did you and Supergirl just talk?” Sophie snapped.

“No. That’s why you should. I know you are angry; I know you probably don’t want to talk to her, but you should. It took us months to get to where we are now, and I have a feeling we have a long way to go still. The months we spent apart were filled with emptiness and bitterness. Months of missing her and having every memory of her bringing me only pain. Do you want that? So just talk to her, it will save you so much heartache.” Lena said.

Sophie stopped pacing. “I want to forgive her, and I don’t want to forgive her” she said.

“I know” Lena said.

“Hey” Kara said as she entered the room. She was still in her supersuit.

“Hey” Lena replied, “Sophie was looking for you” she added.

Kara looed surprised by that. “Is something wrong? Is Kate alright?” she asked.

“Yeah Kate is fine, she woke up, that’s what I wanted to tell you” Sophie said. Lena noticed she didn’t manage to maintain eye contact all the way through but at least she tried.

“That great!” Kara exclaimed, “wait why aren’t you with her then?” she asked Sophie.

Lena caught her eye and shook her head.

“Oh” Kara said, “Okay. Well we should go in there, there’s something I want to discuses with everyone”.


	6. Chapter 6

Everyone Kate considered a friend was present in the room and each one of them had a different expression on their face, ranging from worried to relived to happy.

“How are you feeling?” Kara asked. Kate just shrugged. Kara gave her a small smile.

“You feel like telling us what happened?” Julia asked.

“Yeah Okay” Kate said.

“I got a message from Alice telling me to meet her at the old ice-cream shop. When I got there, there was no sign of her. Only a note saying change of plans! and a location to meet” Kate looked at Luke and said, “I know I should have contacted you guys, but I thought that dealing with Alice was Something I had to do as Kate, without getting anyone else involved.” Luke simply sighed.

She looked at the rest of the group. Mary had her eyebrows raised, Julia and Kara shook their heads and Sophie muttered something, but she couldn’t hear what it was. She was standing furthest from her, behind Lena Luthor, with her arms crossed. When she caught Kate’s eye, she saw her mouth the word _idiot_. Well, _idiot_ was better than silence.

“When I found Alice” Kate continued, “I saw Mouse and what I thought was Bruce. I tried calling my dad but Alice snatched the phone from me and threw it away. She had her knife out and she went for my throat, I managed to dodge, barely” she pointed at her injured shoulder.

“She was unhinged. Like something vital was broken inside her mind. She told me she had invited me for mouse’s funeral but there was a problem with a guest. For a few moments there I really thought it was Bruce. But he’s … smarter and stronger than most people think. I figured it had to be someone else who was wearing a skin mask. We got into a fight.”

“She kept yelling it was my fault he was dead. I’m not sure if she meant mouse and she was somehow blaming his death on me or if she was trying to make me think the fake Bruce was real and that was somehow my fault. She was so far gone, if I hadn’t been hurt myself, I could have taken her. I thought I did. I saw her pass out there right before I did.”

“When I woke up, I was all alone there and I had no idea how much time has passed. But I think I was there for almost a day. I saw a trail of blood leading outside. I went back to the ice-cream shop, I had a feeling she would be there. And she was. She was lying on the floor there, and I couldn’t find her pulse. I wanted to call you guys then but I didn’t have my phone with me, the burner was broken and I didn’t have enough strength left to think or do anything else.” 

Luke was the one who broke the silence. “You are extremely lucky we found you” he said.

“That I am” Kate said. “Do you guys know who was the Fake Bruce?” she asked to no one in particular.

“Tommy Elliot” Julia replied. Should she feel sad about it? Was it bad that she didn’t feel anything other than a mild relief because at least it wasn’t some innocent stranger that Alice murdered to make it look like she had murdered Bruce Wayne?

“Why would she do that? Kill Tommy Elliot and make it look like Bruce Wayne?” Mary asked.

“To mess with my head? who knows, her actions only make sense to her.” Kate said.

“I don’t think she meant to kill him” Sophie said. everyone turned around to look at her. “You said it yourself, she was unhinged, like something vital was broken inside her. My guess is she was planning on something else, something big, something insane and her brother and Tommy weren’t completely on bored. So she snapped and kill them” She said.

Sophie spoke directly too her. Kate was trying her best not to read too much into it.

“I don’t…” Lena Luthor said. “Go on” Kara whispered.

“I don’t think she snapped and killed her brother. I think you are right about her snapping and killing Tommy Elliot, but not her brother. I think that was calculated, premeditated. I think she meant to kill him” Lena said.

Sophie considered that for a second. “Yeah that makes sense. The way she killed them was different and mouse died at least two days before Tommy Elliot.” She said. Alice’s gloves were still covered in blood when Kate had met her underground. Her guess was Tommy had tried to make adjustment to Alice’s plans, most likely about the venue for Mouse’s _funeral_. When he tried to make another, she must have snapped, ruining her own plan in the process.

“Something must have happened after she killed Mouse” Mary said.

“Or because of it” Lena said. Kara had been staring at her this entire time. She took a step closer to her. That’s right. Lena had killed her brother who had later come back to life because of the Monitor guy. He was a piece of work. She really couldn’t blame his sister for killing him.

Kate had killed her sister as well. In all this time that thought hadn’t crossed her mind. since she woke up, Alice was dead was just a footnote in her mind. She had been worried about herself and she had been worried about her relationship with Sophie. But she felt nothing about Alice. No relief, no sadness, no regret. It was something that had simply happened. Should she feel something? Was it terrible that she didn’t feel sad? Or was it terrible that she didn’t feel relived?

“You said you had something you wanted to discuss with everyone Su… Kara” Sophie said.

“I do” Kara said.

“I’ve been thinking about why haven’t I heard anything that’s been happening here. And more importantly how none of you guys been affected by Obsidian. Almost the entire world was affected by it. Lena, I and the others manage to stop it just barely in time, and yet no one from Gotham has even heard of it. Mary tells me Kate had tried to contact me before but other than that one time, just few days after crisis was over, when she asked me to do the Batwoman coming out story, I haven’t heard from you until yesterday. You called Lena around the same time.” She said.

“Wait hold on. What’s crisis?” Sophie asked.

“It was this end of the multiverse thing” Kate said. Sophie raised her eyebrows. “I was a paragon and so was Kara and a bunch of other supes and together we saved the multiverse. It’s a long-complicated story” Kate told her.

“Actually, I think this has to do with crisis” Kara said. “Basically, before crisis Lena, I and everyone in my city were all living on a different earth. During crisis different versions of reality merged together into this reality. But I think there were some glitches along the way.”

“That can explain how Beth got here” Mary said.

“Maybe” Kate said. “Where are you getting with this?” she asked Kara.

“That this reality tried to fix those glitches. That’s why Gotham wasn’t affected by Obsidian. I bet Flash, Black Lightning and Legends weren’t affected by it either.” Kara said.

“Be…cause your city wasn’t part of this universe?” Kate asked. She was extremely confused.

“No because of you, and me. I think this universe is protecting other paragons from threats other paragons are dealing with, as a side effect of that we got cut from each other. That’s why after the glitches started appearing, we lost all contact.” Kara said.

“What? Why?” Kate said. At least she wasn’t the only one who didn’t get it. Mary, Luke Sophie and Julia all looked equally confused. Lena was the only one who seem to understand it.

“Because this world was created with the help of the Paragons. So, until this world is stable, until all the glitches are dealt with, all the paragons needs to stay alive.” Kara said.

“So how come we were able to contact you yesterday?” Sophie asked.

“Because Lex died.” Lena said. “He was a paragon too. Maybe because he died, we are able to cross over into each other’s world. When Kate called me months ago, I was away from National City, which means away from Kara, Lex and the J’onn. That’s why Kara had to go outside of Gotham to call her sister.” She looked at Kara. “right?” she asked.

Kara was once again staring at Lena with a proud look on her face. “right” she said after a couple of seconds. “I think when Lex died, there were only six paragons left and this universe had a sort of adjustment period, there was a small time-frame in which we could contact each other. You guys called me right before that window closed. I couldn’t call Alex because she’s with J’onn. I didn’t necessarily need to go out of Gotham, I had to get away from Kate to contact her.” she explained.

“Hold on a second” Luke said, “Aren’t you also a paragon? So according to your theory shouldn’t it be impossible for you to contact anyone in proximity of another paragon?”

“No. I wasn’t facing any threat. I had to get away from Kate to do so because she was … in a way at least.” Kara said.

Kate needed a moment to process that. Kara’s theory made sense more or less. And why no. After everything that she had seen, anything was possible.

She hadn’t realized it until that point, but she really hasn’t heard about anything that was going on with all the other paragons. She had always figured Kara must be dealing with her own problems in her own city. She was disappointed when had gotten no response from her, but she had just figured Kara must have a good reason for not coming to help. The reason turned out to be her not receiving the message in the first place.

“So you guys are like the batteries for reality ha?” Luke asked.

“D… don’t put it like that.” Kate said.

For the first time the mood in the room had lightened. Kate looked at Sophie. She had a faint smile on her face. Sophie’s expression got serious but she didn’t look away. They needed to talk as soon as possible. Kate was going to ask if they could talk alone but before she could do that Sophie’s phone rang.

“It’s Jacob Kane” She said.

“What does he want?” Julia asked.

“I’m going to find out.” Sophie said as she stepped outside.

Her father had slipped from her mind. Had he picked up? Had he heard her and Alice fight? Had he come there? had he found Mouse and Tommy Elliot?

She would just have to wait until Sophie comes back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple things.  
> First- Kara, Barry and Sara attended Oliver's funeral before the glitches started to appear.  
> Second- The reason why Kara, J'onn and even Lex were able to communicate was because they were facing the same threat (kind of) in close proximity of each other.   
> The universe is basically trying to not drag the heroes into each other's mess, so that the number of messes the heroes face would be less.   
> I know it's dumb and makes little sense, but so is the logic in arrowverse.


	7. Chapter 7

Kara was about to ask Lena to give her a minute alone with Kate. When she turned to Lena however, she only nodded and went to talk with Luke.

Kara didn’t have to say a word, she didn’t even have to give her a look. Despite years of secrets, Lena knew what Kara would want. She wondered how things would have been if she hadn’t kept any secrets in the first place.

She sat at the edge of Kate’s bed. “You got yourself in some situation” she said.

“Yeah I know” Kate replied.

“So why did you try to contact me before you Alice called you?” Kara asked.

“It was about the kryptonite. It’s the only thing that can penetrate the batsiut, I don’t know why. Alice knew this and so we were considering destroying the only piece of it, that you told me to hold onto” Kate explained.

“Kate, that’s not the only piece of Kryptonite. But I guess you wouldn’t know that since you have been cut off from National city” Kara said, “And as for why it’s the only thing that can penetrate the batsuit, I’m guessing whoever made the batsuit did not account for a rare, toxic substance from a planet two thousand light years away”.

“You got a point there,” Kate said. “I’m sorry I got you into this, and thanks for coming”.

“Yeah of course. To be honest I’m glad to be here with her,” Kara said pointing at Lena.

“Ah! Lena Luthor. This is the second time she had saved my ass. She’s the only person who is willing to invest in my project. It turns out I suck at being a businesswoman just as much as I suck at being a superhero” Kate said.

“Don’t say that” Kara scolded. “You have made a difference in the world; you have saved lives and you have inspired people.”

Kate chuckled humorlessly. “Didn’t you save the world again like two days ago?” she asked.

“Barely and with a lot of help. But don’t you get it? Gotham wasn’t even affected by it because of you.” Kara said.

“Or because some Alien freak … no offence … decided I’m the paragon of courage. I don’t think I was meant to do this. Maybe I should stop doing it.” Kate said.

Kara sighed. “You, Kate Kane, you were taken from your reality and brought to my earth. You fought by my side against an enemy you have never even heard of. Everyone else there had their fair share of Aliens, parallel dimensions, and end of the world scenarios, except you. Throughout the crisis, you kept your cool and kept fighting. That was incredibly brave. I know you deserve to be the paragon of courage.” She said.

Kate did not look convinced. “I screwed things up with Sophie in all this mess. I did this to save her you know. Coming back to Gotham and becoming Batwoman. I did it to save her, and in process I damaged whatever I had left with her.” She said.

Kara glance at Lena. She was patiently listening to something Luke was telling her. Kara wondered how long she could let him mansplain before she jumps in and takes the lead.

She turned back at Kate. “Don’t do that. Doubting yourself is one thing but doubting her feelings for you is just wrong. I know she is mad, and you are afraid to face her, trust me I know how that feels, but Kate how can you not see how much she loves you? Have faith in that. Have faith in her and yourself,” Kara said.

“Julia said something like that” Kate mumbled.

“Really? Then maybe we are onto something” Kara said. “oh, and by the way, and I know it’s none of my business but what exactly is the situation with you three?” she asked.

“Don’t ask,” Kate said. Kara had to smiled at that.

“Hey” Mary said as she came over to stand next to the bed. Julia was right behind her. She looked concerned. “you should see this” Mary said to Kate as she handed her phone to her. Kate held the phone so that Kara could see the screen as well.

There was a man in a back suit on the screen. The name read Jacob Kane. Kate hit play.

_Last night our operatives got an anonymous tip informing us about the location of the notorious criminal Beth Kane, also known as Alice and her fellow associates. A small task force lead by me, in a strategic operation, went to the location. There we were ambushed by Alice and criminals that have escaped from the Arkhum asylum. In the struggle Alice and two of her associates were killed, the rest have been captured._

By that point Lena, Luke and Julia were all gathered around Kate’s bed. Kara could hear Sophie listening to the same broadcast outside. This wasn’t happening live. This was a prerecorded message broadcasted on the news and going around on social media.

_To those of you who might have some concerns about this, let me put your mind at ease. Alice and her wonderland gang are no longer a treat. The Crows had no outside help, especially from someone in a bat costume._

Well he is technically right about that, Kara thought.

_Batman and Batwoman are gone for good. Gotham has never needed them. The Crows have proven that we are capable of protecting this city on our own and we will continue to do so. I want to thank the people of this city for their continuous trust._

Jacob Kane had said all of this with a complete straight face, not betraying any emotions. Kate threw the phone away with disgust, but Kara caught it before it hit the ground and handed it to Mary.

“Kate,” Mary began to say but was interrupted by another voice.

“So I take that you guys saw it as well?” Sophie said from the doorway.

“What exactly is he getting at? And how did he know about where Alice was anyway?” Kate asked, her voice rising. Mary put a hand on her shoulder.

“I left an anonymous tip about her location to the police” Luke said.

“I’m not surprised the Crows found out about that and got there first” Julia said.

Kate took a deep breath. “Of course”, she mumble under her breath. “What did he want with you?” she asked Sophie.

“Giving me a heads up. He asked me to check up on you after this, he said he wouldn’t be able to face you right now. Don’t worry I didn’t tell him anything. He said he got a call from an unknown number and luckily decided to investigate it when he had some time. That’s where he found Mouse and Tommy. By the time I reported it last night he had already taken care of it. He suspected it was some new vigilante in town because the bats didn’t kill. He said he was going to leave that part out,” Sophie said. She looked just as disgusted as Kate.

“Is that all?” Julia asked.

“No” Sophie said. “I told him I was going to give him my two weeks’ notice when I come in today.”

Everyone turned to look at her. “He got mad” Sophie said like nothing has happened, “and told me how lucky I was for being a member of the Crows, and that I was being ungrateful, oh and also to not come in because I have been discharged, affected immediately. So that’s that.” Sophie was surprisingly calm about this.

There was a silence for a few moments. Lena looked at Kara with an uncertain look on her face. Kara shrugged.

Then finally Kate said, “about time,” and laughed. Sophie laughed with her.

Kara hadn’t realized she was holding her breath. It was nice to see Kate smile. The tension in the room was thinning.

“You gonna be alright, right?” she asked Kate.

Kate sneaked a glance at Sophie before saying, “yeah, I think I will”.

“If you need anything … come over to national city. No, you know what? I’m going to come here to check on you every once in a while” Kara said.

“It was great meeting you all despite the circumstances, and I look forward to working with you Kate,” Lena said. Kate gave her an uncertain smile.

Kara took Lena’s hand as they waved their goodbyes. She scooped up Lena in her arms when they were outside and took off. She knew Kate and crew had some stuff to work out, but she didn’t need to meddle in that. She had her own stuff to work out with Lena while there was no new enemy to fight.

***

Some two hours after Kara left, Kate and Sophie were finally alone.

Mary went to meet up with their father, she wanted to know if he would tell her the truth. Kate already knew he wouldn’t. Her father had turned into someone she didn’t recognized. Maybe she had seen it coming, but she definitely did not want to admit that. She had made the right choice when decided not to join then even after her father had Offred it. Mary on the other hand still seem to have some faith left in him.

Julia went to the Crows headquarters, she thought Sophie was too impulsive in leaving like that.

“You think I don’t know there is something shady going on? I’ve known it for a long time. So don’t you think staying there would have been better?” she had said. Sophie had stayed calm, impressive so, since Julia had said this just after they had broken up.

Luke said he was going to make a round at Wayne tower, he’ll be back around lunch time. He had left a device with Kate, given to him by Lena Luthor.

It was a small silver thing, no bigger than a thumb drive. It had _L Corp image inducer_ written on it. Alice went through so much trouble to make the skin masks, would things have turned out differently if Cartwright had something like this a decade ago? Lena Luthor had used it to hide who she was while in public. It turns out she didn’t need to use it in Gotham.

Sophie had just got back from a supply run, bringing the medicines Mary told her to bring and a change of clothes for Kate.

“So” Kate said.

“Is that all you have to say?” Sophie asked.

Kate took a deep breath to gather her thoughts. Then she said, “I’m sorry I kept things for you Sophie. I’m sorry I lied. I was going to tell you. I just didn’t want to get you dragged into all this. I am so sorry”.

“That’s not it Kate. I understand that you would have to keep this thing a secret. And it wasn’t like we were together, so you didn’t have to tell me. But then I figured it out on my own and you … you went out of your way to lie to me. You had Julia and Mary lie to me. I kissed you, as Batwoman! That day when you said you would take off the mask, were you really going to? All this while you kept it from me when it would have been so much easier to tell me the truth. That hurts the most. The efforts you took to keep this from me. Why Kate? Why?” Sophie said. The anger in her voice was just as painful to hear as the sadness in her eyes.

Kate laughed humorlessly.

“What?” Sophie asked.

“At first I didn’t tell you because I was trying to protect you. I needed you to stay away from this whole situation. Alice kidnapped you, she was going to kill you. If I had told you, you would have wanted to help. And I didn’t want you anywhere near her. But then I started using it as an excuse. An excuse to not be with you. We have … a complicated past to say the least. I didn’t knew if you loved me, I didn’t knew if you wanted me, I didn’t knew if I was right for you. So I used Batwoman as an excuse. I told myself I was staying away from you because I wanted to keep you safe, because I didn’t want to burden you with my problems. I told myself we can’t be together because I was keeping this huge secret from you. Would I have taken off the mask that day? I honestly don’t know. A part of me wanted to, and a part of me didn’t.” Kate said.

Sophie sighed and sat down on the bed next to her and wiped her tear. How did she not realize she was crying?

“Kara told me to have faith in us. I want to, I’m trying, but I need to know one thing Sophie,” Kate said.

“I love you” Sophie said. There was no anger in her voice, but it wasn’t filled with love either. “Of course I love you, you idiot. But this doesn’t mean everything is fine between us” she said.

“I know” Kate said, “I love you too Sophie. Will you forgive me?”

“Yeah, I think I will. We just need time.” Sophie said.

“We have plenty of that. I’m going to hang up the cape for now,” Kate said.

Sophie looked surprised. “Kate I’m not asking you to stop being Batwoman” She said.

“I’m not going to stop being Batwoman, I’m just going to take a break. And I’m not doing this because of you. I need to do this. Sophie, I killed my twin sister, and I feel nothing about it. that’s not normal is it? She’s not the first person I killed either. I need time to process this. I need time for myself.” Kate said.

Sophie took her hand in hers. “That’s the smartest thing you have said in a long time” she said. Kate couldn’t help but smile.

“When I’m back on my feet, let’s run away. For a little while at least. Get out of Gotham. We can go anywhere in the world, anywhere you want” Kate said.

“What about your real estate thing?” Sophie asked.

“I’ll have Luke takeover. And Lena will probably help too. I’ll have to talk to her about it,” Kate answered.

“Okay. But I still think we should lay low for a while until this Alice things blows over.” Sophie said.

“No that’s why we have this,” Kat said as she showed Sophie the L Corp image inducer device. “It’s this thing that messes with other people’s minds so that to them you look completely different. Lena gave this to Luke, she told him she wasn’t going to need it and if she did, she could make more.”

“So with this, you can be anyone you want to be?” Sophie asked.

“Not exactly. With this I can stop being Jacob Kane’s daughter. Alice’s sister and Bruce’s cousin.” Kate said. “So what do you say Sophie? Will you run away with me?” she asked.

Sophie gave her a soft smile. “Of course” she said.


	8. epilogue

“I never had pot stickers and ice cream for breakfast before. In fact, I’m fairly certain no one in the world has ever done this,” Lena said.

“So? There is always a first time for everything,” Kara replied.

“Maybe we should have taken Alex’s offer,” Lena said. She leaned back putting her plate on the table. They were sitting on the floor in Kara’s loft. Kara was perfectly fine with eating out of takeout boxes, but Lena had insisted on plates.

“Nah” Kara said, “let them enjoy their morning in peace”. Lena knew she wasn’t being completely honest, and she was fine with it. Kara wasn’t trying to hide anything. They both knew she wanted to spend some time alone. Lena did too. She didn’t need to say it.

“You got anything on agenda today?” Lena asked her.

“Not really. As long as nothing major happens today, disaster wise I mean, then I don’t have anything.” Kara answered. “What about you?” she asked.

“Today? Nothing much. I’ll probably catch up on some sleep. From tomorrow I’m going to start rebranding. Again.” She said.

“I’m so sorry about that.” Kara said.

“Don’t worry. At least you will be with me through it all this time, right?” Lena said.

“Of course,” Kara said, as she inched closer to Lena.

“Actually… I’ve been working on a few things aside from that Alien detector 2.0 and image inducer. I actually have some prototypes ready. And now that Lex is gone, I might actually have time to work with Kate.” Lena said. Kara was looking at her with a sad yet amazed look.

“Hey, I got a question” Lena said.

“Shoot” Kara replied.

“Is the universe… going to be okay? With Lex dead and everything? Doesn’t the universe need all seven of you?” Lena asked.

“Not exactly” Kara said. the sad look on her face vanished temporarily and she a gleam in her eyes. She was actually excited to explain this. “The multiverse needs the paragons only temporarily until all the glitches are fixed. Like that time different versions of Brainy ended up in this universe. It’s not going to need us forever. It could take days, or it could take years but at some point in future things will settle back to normal. The universe can run on Six paragons, so to speak. Lex wasn’t meant to be a paragon in the first place. And it seen the universe has recalibrated itself once again after his death. So maybe it will take a little longer to fix the glitches, but as long as the rest of us are alive, the universe is going to be just fine,” Kara said. It was so odd, yet so great to see her like this. Lena rarely if ever had a chance to see this side of her.

“So when did you have time to develop these prototypes anyways?” Kara asked.

“I worked on them when I use to hit a brick wall while working with Lex. No, not literally, don’t look at me like that. So to clear my head I worked on some other projects,” Lena explained.

“Oh yeah, sure. Don’t we all develop world changing technology in our free time?” Kara said with exaggeration. They both laughed.

Kara’s laugh faded into something sad again. “I’m so sorry” she said. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you when you had to kill your brother, and so soon after working so hard to save his life. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you had to face him again. I’m sorry he got to you. I’m sorry he hurt you, and Lena I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. I promised you I’ll always protect you, and I didn’t.”

Lena took Kara’s hand in hers and squeezed it. “I’m glad you are here now” she said.

The way Kara was looking at her, Sophie’s words came rushing to her mind. _Why not?_

“Um...” she said, “I have just one more question” Lena said.

“Yeah?” Kara said.

“You are a lot smarter than you let out aren’t you?” She said. _damn it_ , she thought. Kara didn’t seem to realize Lena had changed the question last second. 

“I guess” Kara said, “I’ve gotten so use to pretending that I act like I don’t know something, even when I do. It’s not exactly intentional”. Lena didn’t expect her to get so serious.

“I mean” she continued, “I suck at lying but at the same time I’m so use to it. I’m used to hiding. Pretending to be human. Pretending to not know stuff. As Kara Danvers I hide that I’m an alien. As Supergirl I hide that I’m Kara Danvers. It started with pretending I’m not that good at math, because Acing AP Math and failing history confused a lot of people. I didn’t mean to hide it from you, hiding it from the world has just become second nature to me”.

“Hey” Lena said as she tilted Kara’s head up with her other hand, “I get it. I’m not mad at you from hiding it. You just looked so excited when you were explaining before, and it’s so rare to see you like that”.

She was wearing one of Kara’s PJs but she had put Kara’s glasses in it’s pocket when she changed into it from her DEO uniform. She was going to give them back but it slipped her mind. She took them out now.

“Kara Danvers Zor El.” She said as she put on the glasses on Kara face. Kara adjusted them with her other hand. They both had their hair down and with the glasses on she looked halfway between Supergirl and Kara. “Will you give me a chance, to get to know you as you, as Alien, Human, Superhero and a reporter?” she asked.

Kara stared at her for a couple of seconds. Then it dawned on her. “Oh, you are asking me out?” she said. “I didn’t know … I mean of course I thought about it… but I wasn’t… I didn’t think you thought that of me like that…” she was rambling.

“Kara!” Lena said.

Kara looked at her. “Yes. Of course yes Lena.” She said. Lena smiled.

“but are you sure? After everything we been through this isn’t too soon?” Kara asked.

“I had feelings for you for a long time. You know we can’t go back to what we use to be. Things can’t be normal between us. Because we don’t have a normal. So why not start something new and find a new normal?” Lena said.

“If you are certain,” Kara said.

“I am. And besides, you will always protect me wasn’t all that you promised. You also promised you will always be my friend. So if by some twist of fate thing didn’t work out between us, I’m going to hold you to that promise. We will always be friend, but I think, no I know that we could be more than that. Don’t you?” Lena said.

Kara smiled. “I do. As long as I know you are always going to be a part of my life, I’m in”.

Things weren’t going to the same from here on out, and Lena was looking forward to it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you liked it, and thank you for bearing with my typos and grammatical errors.


End file.
